UK

Ex-Forest Green Rovers chairman, Trevor Horsley was arrested last week when he arrived in Russia to watch a World Cup match. He is wanted in Dubai on fraud charges. Russian authorities arrested Mr Horsley on an INTERPOL Red Notice.

It is believed that the alleged fraud took place in the UAE in 2011. Mr Horsley’s lawyer has confirmed that he had already paid a fine in relation to the fraud, after finding out about legal action against him, when he flew through Qatar, in 2013.

It is believed that he is being held in a pre-trial detention centre. His family back in the UK, have growing fears for his health as he is suffering from lung cancer.

The UK has been accused of failing in its international obligations after refusing to extradite Mr Harris Binotti to Myanmar where he is accused of murdering his work colleague in an apartment in Yangon. The UK Home Office has explained that it has refused to extradite Mr Binotti because the UK does not have an extradition treaty with Myanmar and Mr Binotti would face a real risk of having his human rights breached if the extradition were to take place.

In response to the Home Office decision, Zar Li Aye, an adviser for the International Commission of Jurists, said that Burmese law included an obligation on judicial authorities to extradite or prosecute and therefore the obligation fell to British authorities to prosecute Mr Binotti in the UK. Consequently, according to Mr Aye, by not prosecuting Mr Binotti the UK is allowing a jurisdictional gap.
Mr Binotti, originally from Dumfries in Scotland, remains subject to an INTERPOL Red Notice which allows law enforcement authorities on the database to arrest him.

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Last month, Stephen Lawrence murder suspect, James Acourt was extradited from Barcelona to face drug charges here in the UK. His arrest in Spain was conducted through a joint operation between the Metropolitan Police, National Crime Agency and Spanish police. He arrived in the UK yesterday and has since been formally charged with conspiracy to supply the class B drug, cannabis. He is due to appear before Westminster Magistrates’ court later today.

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Last month, the High Court stayed India’s appeal against Westminster Magistrates’ Court’s refusal to extradite Mr Chawla. The High Court requested details of the facilities available in Tahir jail, the jail where Mr Chawla would likely be imprisoned if he were to be extradited to India.

Mr Chawla’s extradition was requested in connection with his alleged role in match-fixing during South Africa’s tour of India in 2000. If he is extradited to India, and imprisoned in Tahir jail, the Home Ministry of India has explained that he will have access to his own toilet facilities and guaranteed medical treatment. The assurance also detailed the ways in which he will be protected from violence within the jail.
This is the third assurance given to the High Court by India in this case. It hopes to alleviate the concern of the High Court judges that Mr Chawla faces a real risk of his human rights being breached due to the conditions within Tahir jail. The previous two assurances were deemed ‘inadequate’ by the High Court.

It is not unusual for the UK courts to request assurances from India in relation to extradition cases. If Mr Chawla is successfully extradited to India, this will be the first contested extradition case from the UK to India to succeed since India and the UK entered an extradition treaty in 1992.

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This week marked one year since the Manchester bombing. The only living suspect, Hashem Abedi, is currently being held in Libya by a militia group known as the Special Deterrence Force (SDF). Abedi was arrested by the SDF last May and the UK requested Abedi’s extradition last October, so that he could face charges relating to the Manchester Bombing that was carried out by his brother. However, it has since come to light that given he is a British and Libyan dual national, he could request, under Libyan Law, not to be extradited to the UK. Greater Manchester Police have explained that they believe Hashem Abedi helped to organise and prepare the explosives used by his brother to kill 22 victims last May.

If Abedi continues to refuse extradition to the UK, then he will face a full, contested, extradition hearing in Libya. Greater Manchester Police have said they are ready to provide evidence to help get Abedi extradited to the UK.

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Catalan Separatist and Economics lecturer at the University of St Andrews, Clara Ponsati, is scheduled to face an extradition court hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today before she faces her full extradition hearing this summer.

Phillip Harkins was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in the US today. Harkins was originally arrested for murder in 1999 but fled to Scotland from the US after he was remanded on bail. He was then re-arrested in Scotland in 2003 after he was charged with death by dangerous driving. His 14-year extradition case, believed to be the longest in UK history, went several times to the European Court of Human Rights. On each occasion the court ruled that there was no risk that Harkins would face the death penalty due to diplomatic assurances provided by the US; and that the possibility that he would face life imprisonment without parole did not amount to a breach of Article 3 ECHR which prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment. Harkins was finally extradited to the US in 2017. Today, the US court sentenced him to 25 years for the 2 killings and 15 years for a subsequent attempted armed robbery charge. These sentences will be served concurrently and have been reduced to take into account the years he spent in prison in the UK. Overall, this means he will be spending a further 10 years in a federal prison in the US.